The invention set forth in this specification pertains to a new and improved target game employing a target apparatus. More specifically it pertains to a target apparatus as indicated which is constructed so as to propel various objects away from the target apparatus as the target apparatus is actuated during the use of the game.
It will, of course, be recognized that many different types of so-called targets or target apparatuses have been designed and constructed in the past. Such apparatuses have been designed so as to be capable of being actuated by a physical object such as a missile, a ball, a bullet or the like and they have also been designed so as to be actuated by an appropriate beam such as a beam of visible, infrared or other type of radiation. In general such prior targets or target apparatuses may be regarded as either passive or active depending upon whether or not they are constructed so that a mechanical action results from the proper engagement or intended engagement of such a target apparatus by either an object or a type of radiation.
The present invention is primarily concerned with active type target apparatus which provide a significant, easily observed mechanical action in response to the intended manner of target actuation. In essence, the target apparatuses of the present invention may be considered as action-reaction type apparatuses since when they are appropriately actuated such action causes a subsequent physical reaction.
Such active type target apparatuses as have been constructed and utilized in the past are not considered as desirable as reasonably possible for commercial and play purposes for one or more of a variety of related reasons. Such apparatuses have frequently been constructed in such a manner as to be relatively expensive. Frequently they have been designed in such a manner as to be relatively complex from a mechanical standpoint. On occasion such devices are considered to have been unreliable from a mechanical standpoint and to have been constructed in such a manner so as to be relatively incapable of effectively withstanding the physical abuse normally accorded any toy-type structure.